Chapter 91
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: [Edible Monster 'Skull Soup']
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[Edible Monster 'Skull ■Soup']
[HP: 10,000/10,000]
[A skull soup approved by a certain monk from Silla■! Come eat■■, everyone!]
[Edible Monster 'Trau■■ Powder']
[HP: 7,000/7,000]
[Sprinkle on soup to eat■ for even more taste■! Trau■ma powder awakens the ■dreams in your tasteless■ food!]
The monsters that had stolen my life in the previous timeline had appeared.
Thud!
A shadow hand seized the trauma powder and slammed it straight into the ground. Amid the wind laden with dirt, glittering powder scattered through the air.
[Don't break it~♪ Give it to the ■soup~♪]
[HP: 6,825/7,000]
It was just like a commercial jingle. Ignoring the trauma powder's plea, the black hands lifted the spice jar high.
"Its defense is way too weak."
Whoooosh―
As Se-bin-i added those short words, a pale green arrow sliced through the air with a whistling sound, piercing the trauma powder. A crack formed in its side, and wooden shards began to clatter to the ground below.
Watching it get taken down so helplessly actually felt unsettling.
Like one of those claw machines at an arcade that seems easy at first but will smack the back of your head later.
Bang, bang, bang!
For now, I raised Ego and faithfully hammered the trauma powder. The pristine bullets embedded themselves, slicing its body clean in half.
[This isn't che■ap~♪ Even if you cut it in half■~♪ The pow■der comes out well~♪]
[HP: 2,160/7,000]
"Hold on, everyone fall back!"
Cha Do-yun Hunter suddenly shouted loudly and leaped in front of us. He set his bow aside for a moment and grasped at the empty air with both hands. Massive storm clouds gathered above the trauma powder and skull soup.
Boom!
"Ugh!"
Glittering powder burst from the split in the halved trauma powder. I hurriedly covered my nose and mouth with my sleeve. With one hand, I pulled Ego's trigger to deploy a shield.
The powder raced toward us at terrifying speed, but since it was within the range of Cha Do-yun Hunter's Heaven's Disaster, it was swiftly swept away by the storm.
[If it touches water~♪ it hardens and has no fla■vor~♪]
[Trauma powder is fluffy■ dry! Delicious■ powder~♪]
[HP: 1,215/7,000]
I steadied my stance and pulled Ego's trigger again. The sonic bullet pierced through the rain, wind, and storm like a missile.
Krunch.
I'd pulled it hard on purpose, and it swallowed the trauma powder whole. It shattered into fragments like a plaster statue dropped from on high.
Perhaps anticipating another powder burst, Han Jin-woo Hunter's Mud sucked in the debris.
[HP: 0/7,000]
[Available at ma■ts across the ■nation~♪]
[Edible Monster 'Trauma Powder' has been annihilated by 'Shin Ji-ui'.]
[Edible Monster 'Electric Lamb Steak' is on standby for summoning.]
"Its HP is low, and its defense is practically nonexistent."
Choi Min Hunter murmured as she descended to the ground. When I turned to look, her face was slightly scrunched up, as if something didn't sit right with her.
I was feeling the same way. That uneasy vibe where everything's going too smoothly and it makes you nervous instead.
[Skull soup tastes twice as good with trauma powder!]
[You don't know how to eat it properly!]
[HP: 5,000/5,000]
The skull soup's HP had been halved.
'This atmosphere flowing entirely in our favor feels off.'
I recalled the time we'd been utterly overwhelmed by them. The trauma powder had sacrificed itself immediately upon summoning, buffing the skull soup with every enhancement imaginable. Back then, I was far too weak to handle a skull soup whose HP, attack, and defense had multiplied dozens of times over.
Was I misremembering? I peered at them through my Regressor's Right Pupil.
No, my memory was correct. What changed was the monsters in this timeline.
Splash.
The skull soup shook its head, and the purple soup inside oozed out like lava. As the violet liquid spread in all directions, the grass it touched rotted and decayed in an instant.
I used Bird That Listens to Daytime Words to leap into the air and escape the soup's range.
"Cha Do-yun Hunter, grab on!"
"Thank you."
Han Jin-woo Hunter, riding his Lucky Rabbit's Foot, flew swiftly toward Cha Do-yun Hunter, who took his hand and carried him to safety.
Awooo!
Nokdu let out a howl, and a white pillar pierced the skull's head. Through the gap, Choi Min Hunter unleashed an explosion of flames. The skull containing the soup shattered just barely.
[HP: 0/5,000]
[You'll be surprised by the taste someday~ Delicious skull soup!]
[Edible Monster 'Skull Soup' has been annihilated by 'Choi Min'.]
[Edible Monster 'Alcoholic's White Grape Wine' is on standby for summoning.]
"No matter how I think about it, these don't feel like S-Rank..."
Han Jin-woo Hunter said as he descended toward the ground. Everyone else nodded quietly in agreement—they'd all felt the same.
The status windows' text was glitched, and the monsters were weak.
Maybe the space itself had been slapped together sloppily.
'I hope it just ends anticlimactically like this.'
Clank.
At that moment, the sound of metal clashing rang out, accompanied by the savory smell of oil tickling my nose. Turning toward the source, I saw a massive hunk of metal cooking on a scorching hot griddle. A stark white bone was attached to its end.
Thud.
The ground shook again as a wine bottle the size of me crashed down. It spun in place to steady itself, spilling some of its milky liquid in the process.
[Edible Monster Electric Lamb Steak]
[HP: 8,000/8,000]
[Who dreams of electric sheep? Someone? Something? Doesn't matter. Just eat it!]
[Edible Monster Alcoholic's White Grape Wine]
[HP: 3,000/3,000]
[Ju~st one glass! One~ shot and I'm out, hic!]
Before the nagging unease could form a clear answer, the electric lamb steak hurled itself at us.
Bam!
Having just been on the griddle, the sheer heat from it scorched my face and choked my breath. Shadow hands wrapped around the metal hunk, and Se-bin-i, who had briefly vanished, reemerged in the air to smash down with her spirit.
"Ow, hot."
"You okay?!"
Se-bin-i landed thoughtlessly on the electric lamb steak but immediately kicked off. She flashed a grin in response to my question.
Whoosh.
A shadow suddenly loomed over me. Judging that looking up would waste time better spent dodging, I rolled backward right away. At the same moment, a transparent liquid poured down.
[No, really, hic, just one glass and you'll be hooked, I swear?]
[HP: 3,000/3,000]
I could've sworn I smelled booze from the text. Dodging the liquid that burned everything it touched, I raised Ego and fired at the mouth of the wine bottle.
Crash!
The neck shattered off entirely, and the jagged remnants were swept away far by Cha Do-yun Hunter's Heaven's Disaster.
[I, hic, popped the cork... Who the hell shot off the mouth~, gulp!]
[HP: 1,152/3,000]
Cha Do-yun Hunter grimaced and immediately nocked his bow, firing dozens of wind arrows. Pale green trails lingered in their paths. Surrounded by arrows, the alcoholic's white grape wine stood still, accepting its fate.
Clink.
[HP: 0/3,000]
[Starting tomorrow... for real, hic, I'll get my act together... and live right~!]
[Edible Monster 'Alcoholic's White Grape Wine' has been annihilated by 'Cha Do-yun'.]
Now only that bizarre metal hunk remained. Compared to the others, it had decent defense—it was holding up pretty well against Se-bin-i's attacks.
[Medium well right now. Top it with fresh mint jelly and give it a try. Whether you're an android or human.]
[HP: 2,415/8,000]
"It's tougher than the other monsters."
Se-bin-i pulled back after a fierce exchange and came to my side. Sweat beaded on her forehead from the heat.
The electric lamb steak continued dancing on the griddle, taunting us with its movements. Choi Min Hunter descended from the air and eyed the wildly thrashing metal.
"No evasion ability, so let's hit it all at once."
"Okay, got it."
Everyone took their positions. As Se-bin-i extended her hand to wrap the electric lamb steak in shadow hands, crimson flames and thick arrows tore through the air.
BOOM!!
With a massive explosion, fire and wind intertwined to engulf the metal hunk. Hovering in the air, I spun and fired at the twirling electric lamb steak.
Krunch.
[HP: 0/8,000]
[In the end, you'll end up on the ■■■'s ■■ too.]
[Edible Monster 'Electric Lamb Steak' has been annihilated by 'Shin Ji-ui'.]
"...And it's over just like that?"
The words hovering on my lips slipped out. Looking around, the unnaturally rippling sky and ground had returned to normal, revealing the peaceful garden just like when we'd entered the gate.
"Well... I guess it's resolved for now?"
Han Jin-woo Hunter spoke up. He wore a faint smile as if trying to lighten the dour mood, but anyone could tell it was forced.
It was just a shoddy fragment to begin with. The annihilation conditions were loose too. I should just be glad we'd smashed one of the Creator's fragments.
I tried thinking positively, but it only made me more anxious.
Lifting my gaze to Choi Min Hunter, our eyes met—hers dark and crimson. She knew this world was barreling toward apocalypse, so she seemed to take the situation more gravely than the other hunters.
Swish, swish.
'What the...?'
Something like fabric brushing against the sky echoed. Where the ground met the heavens began blending into one color. Like a thick brush erasing the boundary between two hues, artificial vertical lines appeared on the horizon.
[A weary gourmet enters the restaurant and orders today's a la carte.]
"What in the world is...?"
[The chef smiles at the gourmet and speaks.]
"Today's a la carte is the nightmare course."
"Wait, everyone be careful!"
"Ji-ui...!"
Se-bin-i's voice cut off, and at the same moment, my vision plunged into darkness.
My body was being sucked somewhere. No sounds reached me, no pain registered. I was surely screaming and flailing my limbs, but I felt nothing.
[5 ingredients entered]
[Entering edited timeline.]
[Time remaining until the gourmet's table: 24 hours]
'My stomach's churning...'
In my pitch-black vision, only inky blue letters flickered.
Edited timeline. Ingredients. Gourmet. Words I'd never heard before swirled in my mind.
[Ingredient 'Shin Ji-ui's' nightmare exceeds quota.]
[■■th ■■■'s ■■, ■'s ■ digests this ■nightmare.]
In the midst of the chaos, the thing that had erased my memories before appeared again. Obsessively gnawing at them even though there was nothing left to recall.
[Ingredient 'Shin Ji-ui's' nightmare is overflowing wildly.]
['Shin Ji-ui's' nightmare turns the kitchen into chaos.]
[Panicked chef isolates 'Shin Ji-ui'.]
[9■th Savior's ■authority, ■'s power deletes this ■nightmare.]
'...The letters are coming into focus bit by bit.'
[98th Savior's authority, Power of Words deletes this memory.]
The glitched text I'd never been able to read began slowly revealing itself.
[98th Savior's authority, Power of Words failed to delete this memory.]
[Savior's memory recovery complete]
[Mission 'One Who Steps on Karma' reset]
[Transmitting all of Savior's memories.]
A sentence I'd never even imagined appeared.
ZZZzt.
Horrific noise burrowed into my ears, and a tiny hand entered my sightless vision.
'My hand...?'
Moving it slowly, the small hand before me mimicked the motion. Only after the alien sensation—like possessing someone else's body—did I grasp the situation.
One: My nightmares were every life I'd ever lived.
And the other:
[Playing back first memory.]
It intended to show me all those lives right now.